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Microsoft Windows 7 Professional

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Product Description
With Windows 7 Professional, fewer walls stand between you and your success. You can run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode and recover data easily with automatic backups to your home or business network. You can also connect to company networks effortlessly and more securely with Domain Join. With all the exciting entertainment features of Windows Home Premium, it’s a great choice for home and for business. Need to use multiple languages on your PC or help protect your data with enhanced BitLocker security? Get Windows 7 Ultimate.

Manage lots of open programs, documents, and browser windows easily with thumbnail and full-screen previews of open windows. Click to enlarge.

TOP 50 Video Games of all time – By Game Rankings.com

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	N64	Nintendo	31	9.0	97.7%	97.613%
2. Grand Theft Auto IV	PS3	Rockstar Games	58	8.0	97.6%	7.419%
3. Super Mario Galaxy	WII	Nintendo	73	8.9	97.4%	97.268%
4. Grand Theft Auto IV	X360	Rockstar Games	79	8.4	96.7%	96.599%
5. The Orange Box	PC	EA Games	32	9.6	96.2%	96.422%
6. Metroid Prime	GC	Nintendo	89	8.8	96.1%	96.326%
7. Soul Calibur	DC	Namco	27	8.8	96.3%	96.259%
8. The Orange Box	X360	EA Games	55	9.1	96.3%	96.196%
9. Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	21	9.2	95.9%	95.905%
10. Tekken 3	PS	Namco	23	8.1	95.8%	95.804%
11. Resident Evil 4	GC	Capcom	102	9.2	95.6%	95.749%
12. Resident Evil 4	PS2	Capcom	56	8.7	95.6%	95.661%
13. Half-Life 2	PC	VU Games	88	8.9	95.6%	95.489%
14. Halo: Combat Evolved	XBOX	Microsoft Game Studios	83	8.8	95.1%	95.443%
15. BioShock	X360	2K Games	95	9.3	95.2%	95.316%
16. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	PS2	Rockstar Games	98	8.7	95.2%	95.189%
17. GoldenEye 007	N64	Nintendo	21	9.2	95.4%	95.176%
18. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	PS2	Konami	71	8.6	94.8%	95.014%
19. BioShock	PC	2K Games	45	8.3	95.0%	94.967%
20. Grand Theft Auto III	PS2	Rockstar Games	72	8.7	94.9%	94.907%
21. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker	GC	Nintendo	95	8.9	94.4%	94.729%
22. Gran Turismo	PS	SCEA	21	8.4	94.7%	94.714%
23. Perfect Dark	N64	Nintendo	43	9.0	94.7%	94.658%
24. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	PC	Rockstar Games	48	8.7	94.6%	94.615%
25. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2	PS	Activision	30	8.4	94.6%	94.600%
26. Halo 2	XBOX	Microsoft Game Studios	104	8.3	94.2%	94.524%
27. NFL 2K1	DC	Sega	21	7.5	94.5%	94.505%
28. Grand Theft Auto Double Pack	XBOX	Rockstar Games	54	8.8	94.5%	94.500%
29. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	WII	Nintendo	83	9.2	94.5%	94.392%
30. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec	PS2	SCEA	77	8.6	94.3%	94.299%
31. LittleBigPlanet	PS3	SCEA	64	6.3	94.2%	94.276%
32. Half-Life	PC	Sierra Entertainment	26	8.9	94.1%	94.212%
33. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	PS2	Rockstar Games	91	8.8	93.8%	94.210%
34. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	XBOX	LucasArts	101	9.0	94.2%	94.176%
35. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	X360	Activision	78	9.2	94.2%	94.153%
36. BioShock	PS3	2K Games	39	7.0	93.5%	94.128%
37. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn	PC	Interplay	36	8.9	94.0%	94.028%
38. Ninja Gaiden Black	XBOX	Tecmo	40	8.9	92.9%	94.025%
39. Gears of War	X360	Microsoft Game Studios	109	8.7	93.9%	94.000%
40. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	X360	2K Games	104	9.2	94.0%	93.896%
41. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory	XBOX	Ubisoft	74	8.8	93.9%	93.885%
42. Company of Heroes	PC	THQ	60	7.9	93.8%	93.780%
43. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4	PS2	Atlus Co.	20	–	93.4%	93.734%
44. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater	PS	Activision	29	8.3	93.7%	93.714%
45. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	PS3	Activision	45	8.0	93.6%	93.682%
46. Unreal Tournament	PC	GT Interactive	22	8.8	93.0%	93.636%
47. Gears of War 2	X360	Microsoft Game Studios	68	8.1	93.3%	93.628%
48. Resident Evil Code: Veronica	DC	Capcom	42	8.5	93.6%	93.610%
49. Grand Theft Auto III	PC	Rockstar Games	43	8.8	93.5%	93.500%
50. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3	PS2	Activision	57	8.4	93.5%	93.488%

ms08 078 – The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) : MS08-078 Released

Much Ado Over Microsoft’s (Somewhat) Rare Out-Of-Band Patch

Posted by George Hulme, Dec 17, 2008 08:00 PM

My advice: Patch this puppy, and don’t worry about whether or not Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) should have published this update out of its normal monthly update cycle.

Last week, right on Patch Tuesday, in fact, Microsoft learned of a zero-day vulnerability, and toward the end of the week, it was being widely exploited.

The first point is that more zero-days are being released on, or right after, Patch Tuesday. This is no doubt a tactic designed to maximize the shelf life of the exploit. I fully expect this trend to increase, especially as more software vendors publish software security updates on a standard schedule. I still think this practice reaps more benefit than harm: without it, there would be more zero-day attacks and we’d be patching our systems every week. That drains enterprise resources.

Second: Microsoft had to release this patch because the vulnerability was being exploited, and users could get attacked just by visiting a Web site — even so-called trusted Web sites. It was getting nasty.

As was explained to Thomas Claburn in this story:

“The browser flaw had been disclosed roughly one week ago as a zero-day vulnerability, and active exploits have been around the Internet for that time frame as well,” Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek said in an e-mailed statement. “The workarounds provided by Microsoft were very technical and quite cumbersome to implement, making it imperative for Microsoft to release a fix as quickly as possible.”

That sums it up well. The workarounds were quite kludgey.

However, I have to take partial issue with this take from Roel Schouwenberg, senior antivirus researcher with Kaspersky Lab, Americas, on what this flaw’s lack of wormability, and subsequent out-of-band patch, means:

“[That] shows that the wormability of a vulnerability is no longer a good indicator of the seriousness of a threat and that these Web-based threats are now much more dangerous than network worms,” said Roel Schouwenberg, senior antivirus researcher for Kaspersky Lab, Americas, in an e-mailed statement.

I see his point, and actually agree that Web-based threats are both more prevalent and more dangerous (in many scenarios I can think of) than network worms. However, “worm ability” is still a strong indicator of the seriousness of a threat.

And we will see more Web-based worms in the future. Why? Because they’re more profitable than network worms. The age of network worms died largely because there’s more profit to develop exploits that can make a buck: not worms that essentially cause widespread denial-of-service situations.

Wormable or not. Whether Microsoft should have gone out-of-band with this one, or not. You need to patch MS08-078.

Eric Schultze, CTO at Shavlik Technologies, e-mailed me an interesting wager: “I’d bet you a cookie that many companies can’t get it rolled out as quickly as Microsoft got it built.”

I’ll bet he’s right.

SOURCE